This exhibition at the Portico Library explores Elizabeth Gilbert’s historical novel The Signature of All Things by breaking the story down into the books, ideas and events that might have shaped it.

Drawing on the Portico’s historic collections, the display brings together works that relate directly—or tangentially—to the characters, scientific discoveries and intellectual debates that underpin the novel’s plot.

Come and see extracts from the novel displayed alongside the books that inspired the story of Alma Whittaker, and get a glimpse of how the worlds preserved in libraries can spark new stories and new ways of imagining the past.